City to host first community literary festival
Alison ManningA new community literary festival is set to take part in venues across a city centre, with a strong focus on local authors, say organisers.
Coventry's CovLitFest will feature a range of activities including creative writing talks and workshops, as well as an awards ceremony for a children's poetry competition.
Events, organised by a group of volunteers, will take place from 25 to 27 June at Coventry Cathedral, the city's Central Library and the Priory Visitor Centre.
Local author and poet, Alison Manning, who helped organise the event said: "We are excited to see our dreams that started as a list of ideas come to reality."
The festival started "with a question, or rather two," she added.
"Why didn't Coventry have its own literary festival, and how hard could it be to organise one? So we started one!"
CovLitFestFree event, Beyond Words, takes part at the cathedral on 26 June, and includes a number of local authors and related groups as well as activities for younger children.
As part of its commitment to supporting the National Year of Reading, CovLitFest aims to make literature accessible and enjoyable for all ages, organisers said.
On 27 June prizes will be presented to the winners of a children's poetry competition by the city's poet laureate Andrea Mbarushimana and young poet laureate Diamond Kayode-Osunlana.
The children's poems will also be published in a booklet.
A full programme is available on the event website.
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